Vinyl Asylum: REVIEW: DYNAVECTOR KARAT 17D mk 2 Phono Cartridge by Mister Pig

Recently my analog system was seeming blah. It was time for a change. So I put my Koetsu Black up for sale on the net, and found it a new home. At roughly the same time I came across a low hour Dynavector 17D mk 2 at a resonable price. But more importantly, a trusted source, so I was sure I wasn't getting a bum cartridge. Anyways I have lived with it for a few months now, and feel that I have spent enough time with it to write a well informed review.

Its physical characteristics are alot different then my Koetsu Black. It uses a fiberglass body, and was easier to balance out on my tonearm then the Black was. Also the body is shaped so that the edges can be used to set the cartridge up. Normally I would sight along the cantaliver to do this, but the cantaliver is so small that I couldnt see it. It has a diamond cantaliver that is 1.7 mm long. So I chickened out and set the cartridge up using the sides and front of the body instead of the cantaliver. I also set VTA up with the body of the cartridge parallel to the record. Also of note is the low output voltage of this cartridge. The owners manual states a .23mv output at 1KHZ, but another part of the manual puts its output voltage at .16 mv. Anyways, the moving coil input stage of the EAR 834P is sufficient to get the job done, but just barely. If you have anything that has less gain I suspect you will need a step up treansformer for it.

So how does it sound? The first thing that grabs you about thsi cartridge is its speed. Its fast fast fast....with huge amounts of detail. It extracts more information out of the grove then the Koetsu Black, Goldrin 1042, and Ortofon X 5 that I have used lately. But all this detail isnt at the expense of a good sounding treble. Its not harsh or edgy sounding. It gets more of the ambience,hall reflections,and decay out of the music. And thats out of all kind of music. One night I tossed on Journey's Frontiers for some casual listening while my wife and I played cards. I noticed all kinds of subtle details that were never before heard in this recording. And I am not saying this is a well recorded record, but I do think its alot better then I had ever noticed before. There are a couple of records I have from Kicking Mule Records that showcase ragtime 6 string guitar players. The delicate, and emotional nature of this music really shined on these listening sessions with the Dynavector. The midrange is alot leaner then the Koetsu Black. It does not have as full and creamy presentation that the Black, which was really its strong point. The midrange on the Dynavector seems closer to the sound of my CD player(Sonic Frontiers SFCD-1) then any other cartridge I have owned. once again the overall speed of this cartridge is apparent. Its overall sound is a bit lean, but very quick and detailed. Instruments have lots of snap, and transient attack. Listening to Dire Straits first album, theres a song titled Six Blade Knife which really shows off Knopflers bluesy vocals. This is once again something that really shines on the turntable, its a very immediate and seductive presentation that really gets to the core of the bands performance. Sure it inst perfect, but the music really shines through, and allows the listener to connect with the group. The bass response is a bit on the lean side. Once again its fast and detailed. But dosent have the heavy feeling that the Koetsu had. But I know it has been said that many people felt the Koetsu's had a heavy and ponderous bass presentation, especially the Black. I had to spend alot of time changing the dampening characteristics of the Well Tempered tonearm to get the bass to come around. But like the rest of the cartridge it has alot of speed, dynamics, and clarity. It actually goes quite deep when the information is in the recording. I don't have any issues with its bass presentation, although this area is one that isnt as important to me as the midrange and treble. But on Fleetwood Macs Rumour album the song Dreams has a big fat sounding bass guitar...that sounds like...well a bass guitar. Yet on other various pieces of Jazz that I have the stand up bass has that nice warm resonant sound that a bass shouyld have. And music with a synthesized bass line goes incredibly deep without any mistracking or noticble compression. It really makes listening to music from Yazz or Information society a real kick to listen to.

Overall I have to say this is one heck of a nice cartridge. Its very consistent sounding. This cartridge seems to have many of the chatracteristics of a good sounding CD player without any of the drawbacks. It is not the kind of cartridge for someone who prefers a warm, and lush presentation. Its kind of like the "anti-grado". One other thing I have failed to mention is how quiet this cartridge is in the groove. Most of the vinyl I buy anymore is used. And you never are sure what you get. Even with a trip through a VPI record cleaner, there was still some noise on alot of records. For instance I had a 12 inch extended play from Madonna. Even with alot of cleaning, this record really wasnt listenable with the Koetsu Black. But one day my daughter asked me to play it. So I did, and I was amazed with how quiet it was with the Dynavector. It was like a new record, it had virtually no noise! Across the board all my vinyl is quieter with this cartridge then any of my previous ones. So thats my review of the Dynavector. If anyone has any questions or comments, I would love to hear them.

Regards
Mister Pig

REVIEW: DYNAVECTOR KARAT 17D mk 2 Phono Cartridge Review by Mister Pig at Audio Asylum